Had an AWFUL time lighting this one and that stupid tattoo was a b*tch of a time, hahaha. This is an old sketch that I digitally inked and have always wanted to finalize. This is sorta like... listening to Gold Panda, hahaha. I tried to keep it relatively simple, coloring wise... just doing some experiments. I really hope you like it. I worked hard on it.

This is so beautifully done, awesome work! I think a lot of us who listen to music just zone out into our own little worlds (I do anyways). My favorite part are the headphones and the tattoos, they are so beautiful, I'm slightly jealous. Just good work all round, you deserve cookies.

I absolutely ADORE the coloring, and the neon blue hue... It's so pretty.It definitely captures that moment when you need to just get away and in the music zone to relax, compose your thoughts, or just unwind.Love it!

I was actually thinking about this as a phone/iPod case or skin. What do you think? (I wouldn't be doing this myself as I have an older phone and am broke lol but you could see if other people would like the idea)

hey hey!long time no talk!, so here is my 2 cents, it still feels like there is a faint light source shinning on her from atop, cause all the coloring is pretty neutral.I went through some of my old drawings, and dug this one up - [link]not as nicely drawn as yours, but the coloring definitely gives off the right idea. You wanna brighten the exteriors as much as need be, but the center remains dark. Just think of like, our drawing classes from back in our dawson days, were we would have to draw like, a long chrome tube, and the light source was way in the back

Yeah, sorry I'm only getting back to you now, but I'm bad with comments. Anyway, I know what you mean about lighting the edges more... but I looked up some references where they did do it, and others where they didn't. I tried actually at first, to brighten the edges, but I didn't like it because I couldn't get the light 'uniform' enough. But anyway. The advice is SUPER appreciated. Thanks man.

..............wow. I freaking love this! The color scheme works really well together, and the mood and tone here I don't know how to express the amount of feels this picture gives me. It is exactly the sort of thing that I love to just sit and stare at. It's kind of peaceful, and has a really nice ambient feel to it. :3 FEELINGS! The little details are amazing too. Like the tears (OMG subtle tears? AMAZING!!!) and the way she is curled into a bit of a ball. It makes her feel like she is trying to close off to the world.

But if I misread anything just know, picture is awesome and purdy and I love it!

Thanks so much!! I'm so flattered you like it so much, and I don't think you misread. I'm always delighted if people can see their own versions of things... even though in this case, I think you were spot on.

Well turn me upside down and paint me blue! I thought in your blog mentioned LIGHTNING and I was thinking of bolts and stuff.

Onto this wonderful illustration. This illustration makes you fell like getting lost and enjoying your fave music and just being entrapped in the sounds and sensations of the notes you hear. The star on the headphones and the shade of blue in the picture remind me of an anime called Black Rock Shooter since the main protagonist has a blue flame over her left eye and there is a star on her cloak. (The link below for ref picture)

This is actually really beautiful and the lighting is actually quite good. I love the detail work with the sparkles and musical notes on her skin. The thing about backlighting is that it does the exact opposite of normal lighting. So where there would normally be shadows there is light and vice-versa. So when trying it out just make a layer where you do exactly that and then play with it until it looks the way you want.